Friday the 13th: Should we consider Jason Goes To Hell canon?
By Joey Click
Of everything Friday the 13th, nothing is as hotly debated as Adam Marcus’ Jason Goes To Hell. Should we consider the 1993 sequel canon?
Last month, our friends at HorrorGeekLife spoke to Adam Marcus about his Friday the 13th sequel, Jason Goes To Hell. Discussing aspects of the underrated sequel, Marcus and HGL’s Justin Corbett eventually land on whether JGTH is canon or highly produced fan fiction. It’s a question I’ve been thinking about for a few weeks, so let’s get to it.
Before getting into the blood, machetes and sleeping bags, I want to make two things clearer than the waters of Crystal Lake. Firstly, I freaking love Jason Goes To Hell. Pound-for-pound, it’s one of the most underrated films in horror history. Secondly, Webster defines canon in a multitude of ways. For the purpose of this article, I’ll be focusing on the fourth example.
And here it is Camp Counselors:
A: an accepted principle or rule
B: a criterion or standard of judgment — the canons of good taste
C: a body of principles, rules, standards, or norms
So, while taking into account its definition, is Jason Goes to Hell Friday the 13th canon? In short…hell no it’s not.
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For starters, where is Creighton Duke throughout the series? Don’t get me wrong, “The Duke” is one of my favorite characters in any medium, but if this guy’s been “Dr. Loomis style” tracking Jason for years, wouldn’t we have met him before JGTH events? So he’s not showing up to help Tommy in any “Jarvis trilogy” entry?
Also, Jason has an entire family we’ve also never met? So you’re telling me throughout the entire franchise, we’ve never met or been witness to a mentioning of other Voorhees members outside of Pamela? If this were actual Friday the 13th mythology, we would’ve — no question. I mean, when thinking of the series, do you instinctively think of more Voorhees members other than mama Voorhees and her baby boy? I did’t think so (I know I don’t).
And don’t even get me started on the evil worm thing…
Ultimately, there’s no way Jason Goes To Hell is part of proper Friday the 13th canon. It’s a great movie about a fallen father and how far he’ll go to save the ones he loves. If you watch it as a “fan fiction” type scenario, there are many merits. Then again, I just wrote an entire article about the mythology of a film series about as strict as John Candy’s ’80s diet.
So is Marcus right or am I? I’ll leave that for your to decide.
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